St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-06-23
THE CHICAGO WHEAT PIT.
Exciting Scenes Among the Speculate,

THE CHICAGO WHEAT PIT.
Exciting Scenes Among the Spectators.
The exciting scenes among the Chi
cago wheat spectators one day last
week are thus described by Prof.
David Swing of that city:
Those who climbed into the visitors
gallery before $50 obtained seats !;
those who came about 10 o'clock Sc
cured standing room those who came
later blOckaded the stairs and heard
much, but saw nothing.
| Among the earlier ones was the writ
er, who will tell what he saw and
heard without reference to the prices
in the pits or the dancing of the dial
hands which recorded the fluctuations.
What is the wheat pitq 1t is minia
ture amphitheatre it's circumference
is about so feet; five steps descend to
the floor. On this floor, and on these
steps leading to it, stand the men who
bid and buy and sell the wheat crop.
In the narrow space which forms the
centre of the pit there was at $50 IA
whirlpool of humanity, a seemingly
jellified mass of hats, shirtsleeves and
wriggling hands and arms. The five
steps leading down into this seething
centre of human distortion were crowd
ed with men gesticulating wildly.
The crowd was such us is never seen
anywhere else. Men were wedged to-
gether like stalks of asparagus tied
tightly in bundle. All were leaning
forward pressing down in the centre,
the combined pressure only rendering
the men who struggled in front of and
below them still more helpless. AS
these men, possibly 500 of them, strug
gled and writhed and gesticulated, they
accompanied their cOntOrtiOns with
explosive sounds, which, blending in
almost deafening discOrd, rose to the
ears of the spectators with a sugges-
ton of pandemonium. Such yelling
and bowling such unearthly scream
ing, grooming and waiting. The spec
tacle cOnfuses the eye, and the sound
deafens the ear. Men are struck right
and left, not brutally, but frequently,
when IL seller raises his hand palm
outward dozen others lunge at him,
raining upon his shoulders, head and
breast light body blows. Every ges-
ture, every blow, every sound is ter
ribly significant, and it must be, for
faces are wrinkled, and all bear scOwls
or the lines of intense excitement, and
this is the wheat pit.
On the southwest edge of the am
phitheatre- high above the
writhing mob-is man who attracts
much attention. He stands in a small
pulpit. Above his head, perhaps ten
inches, is huge gong of brass, up
held by rods of highly polished metal
rising in semi-circular form from the
front of the pulpit, and this man wears
"a seersucker coat and a white cap, with
long, projecting frOntispiece. In ap-
pearance he suggests conductor on
an Illinois Central suburban train. His
cap is thrown back on his head, and
he regards the men in the wheat pit
with evident solcitude. This pulpit
eer, from his position, was the most
conspicuous figure among 1000 men on
the floor of the board of trade.
."WhO is he 2" "What is he q''' "What
are his duties 2" These are some of
the questions prOpOunded by the Oc-
cupants of the gallery. For two hours
while the writer fingered OH the out
skirts of the crazy crowd, the man i'll
the pulpit did not once change his pO-
sition nor adjust his cap nor wipe the
rivulets of perspiratiOn from his face
rated his seersucker coat. Some of the
ladies thought that the "pOOr fellow"
must be the president of the board. |
Others thought he was the secretary,
and all sympathized with him. The |
conspicuous young man is the efficient
reporter of the wheat pit. The gong
above his head sounds when trading
begins, and again when it closes. He |
is s.ls. fe.s1 al.
buy and sell wheat SO that he may bet
ter understand the prices offered and
be prepared any second to announce
any change by manipulation of the |
keyboard before him which connects |
hands jump and culver between the |
bounds of half cent, all eighth, a |
quarter, five-eighths, and then, per-
chance, whirl in fitful revolutions indi-
eating drop of several cents which |
swept away fortunes, or rise which |
makes and loses millions. There is |
something fascinating about the wheat
pit, after all. 1t is not awe-inspiring
but rather the attraction of wild beasts
in ferocIous alteration. The sounds |
are hardly human. Occasionally will
come lull. This may be broken by
the childish treble of a messenger
boy crying the name of a trader he1
seeks, and following, quick as thought,
an angry roar suggesting souls in pur-
gatOry, of the despair which Dante
paints in the ''inferno.p Thousands
who left the board of trade to-day did
so fervently breathing the prayers lin
spirit, if not in words,) "From life in
the Chicago wheat pit, good Lord, de-
liver us.n